The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-12-15
DAVID TODD.

evening in my old home am thinking oil
distant kinsman who has long been dead.
So insistent is the memory that rs stood
moment since looking out into the rainy
dusk il almost seemed as il he too must
soon be among the men who are passing
through the rays o. red and green light
streaming from the apothecary's window
opposite.
lie was tall, somber person whom the
negroes held in awe as one likely 10 prac-
tice black arts on those who aroused his
wrath used often 70 listen 20 the tax OF
rheumatic old negress, with myers ~
knotted and twisted as roots, who neileNeu
herself to have been ''cunjurcd' by MN
As he stalked past her door, where she was
In the habit of summing herself she WOuld
shrink together until she seemed scarcely
more than bundle Of rags, then gradu-
ally uncurling herself as his footsteps
died away In the distance, would slt chat
terino with anger, muttering the curses
she had not dared to let him hear, long
after he was out of sight Yet believe
David Todd never knew of her existence,
for he went his way among his fellows,
lost in bafiicd cropping thought az II none
Of them had enough affinity for hIm 10
draw his eyes outward from the thoughts
that held him.
lie was Of good Quaker family and
for years filed the chair Of natural ms
tory in the college Of y. AZ length, how
ever, there began to be queer rumoIa con
corning him. Ii was said that hc iancied
he had discovered the origin II lie. ana
bending over his cruciblc- attempted The
role Of Creator But whatever town talk
might invent concerning him. 40 one
really knew much about his affairs. for he
had always been taciturn man, ana noN
developed an irascible, suspicious man
ner toward his old associates that led them
to avoid him, and before long be himself
plunged into u preOccupatiOn that seemed
10 blot out from his mind all consciousness
Of his neighbors
His work, whatever il might be-, bound
him, it was said, TO unremiiting toll, hut
as time went on without the result Of his
labors appearing, the world which he had
forgotten in turn forgot him or nearly
so The negroes, who had probably ougi
nally gathered the idea of something mys
ferrous about him from the gossip a Their
masters, still talked of the light Away
TO be seen burning until early morning in
the attic Of his house; light which they
said proceeded from candle made az dead
mems fat and caused whoever looked long
TO fall asleep. "Mahs Todd an de deDble
amt got no call 10 hab folks fOOln' bout
ter see wat dey's at, " they explained and
this idea Of his crooked ways was
carefully strengthened by am old aunty
who lived under his roof and Who was
not a little proud of the league her
master was understood TO have with the
evil one, although she weekly showed the
working Of divine grace lu herself by
jumping and shouting in "meetiu', and
moreover had been INNER ed in order
that she might be quito sure that mo- faint
oi original sin adhered to her
She possessed considerable sllill in herbs
and was TO boot a shrewd old body, quick
10 use her masters supposed powers os g
means Of increasing her reputation for
knowingness. But IN spite OF the hbei
ties she took with his name. no one 40 bot
tom believed more in his ar,s Than Aunt
Kitty. His gloomy. abstracted ways
awed her and although nothing cxtrao--
binary ever happened in the house, her
Imagination, like an orchid, seemed TO fad
enough in the air to keep it nourishing.
The one other inmate of the house gave
no such play to her fancy. David TOdd's
sister, Rachel was a slight, timid aud
rather deaf little woman. whom ind0Orife
had made pale and her occupations were
perfectly simple and evident Setting neat
stitches seemed TO be the form duty had
taken TO her, and tending few window
plants and reading her Bible and Millions
\ Ia la e llr "a.
ure Poor Rachel--she had been the last
child born in the house, and it had been
her lot to see the gradual disintegrati0n Of
the family, and TO stand at last in silent
rooms where laughter on her lips would
have seemed ghostly to her, even if the
years, which had taken so much away
from her, had not at last stripped her of
her original small stock Of buoyancy
Living in the dim rooms she had grown
almost as quiescent rs the moths that, now
and then finding their way into the house
from the masses Of Virginia creeper about
the windows, lay motionless at the bottom
OF the panes
Five years before the date of our story
she had been thrown into the great
est futter Of her life by having
an orphan niece placed under her
charge until the rigors of New
England winter should be past The Wis
itor was radiant girl with golden brown
eyes and a bright yellow hair, in whose
soft masses an amber comb often shone.
Rachel lowered about her in an ecstasy Of
admiration, and was the most submissive
elder that ever Maynard girl undertook
10 manage; and indeed, not only she and
the willful Aunt Kitty came under Ethels
sway, but even David lost some Of his in
attention TO what was going on in the
house and showed grim pleasure III the
girls coaxing ways.
The cheerful days went by so quickly
that il seemed TO Rachel as if there had
never been year when the dandeliOns
came so soon; and before any of the three
older people were willing TO think OF
Ethel's departure she began to talk
blitheiy Of her return north.
She was so happy in the thought of her
approaching marriage that she left them
almost without a pang. But some years
later, when the world had taken on SID
der hue TO her, she thought of them often
And when she felt her hold on life slipping